GM’s Marvelous Motorama: Dream Cars From the Joe Bortz Collection

1953 Buick Wildcat I

During the golden age of the automobile, from the immediate post-World War II era and into the 1960s, is when General Motors led the way in all things automotive. By about 1955, the largest employer in the world had captured half the automobile market. This happened because of the convergence of multiple events and the personalities involved, one of whom was Alfred Sloan, the president of GM and Harley Earl. Sloan hired Earl, a custom-car builder from California, to design the upcoming LaSalle, slated for release for 1927. The success of Earl’s design led to Sloan hiring him to set up a department dedicated to styling, something not done up until then in the mass-produced automobile industry.

Styling proved to be the number one consideration of the majority of car-buyers for decades and Earl led the auto industry with advanced ideas in styling. Such features as tail fins and the wraparound windshield were copied by the competition.

Another innovation from GM was the GM Motorama, a multi-city traveling exhibition of all things General Motors. Those held from 1953 to 1956 are primarily known for the so-called dream cars (concept cars in today’s vernacular). Dream cars such as the sporty 1953 Buick Wildcat I and 1954 Pontiac Bonneville Special were among many shown throughout the life of the GM Motorama. The traveling show introduced people to advanced ideas in styling and engineering to test their acceptance of these ideas as well as to familiarize them to what was coming within a year or two.

Today, among the most collectible of automobiles are the Dream Cars of the 1950s, especially those from the glory days of General Motors. Many were eventually scrapped after they were no longer a predictor of the future. Initially, some were given to VIPs who wanted them, but soon corporate policy dictated that such would not happen again. Some meant to be scrapped landed in the Warhoops junk yard in Sterling Heights, Michigan. Indeed, at least four of them were sent there and two were actually cut apart, but those pieces and the other two cars, untouched, remained in the junk yard for three decades. In 1989, a Chicago resident and car enthusiast named Joe Bortz was alerted to the presence of these cars in the salvage yard. A deal was made between the yard owner, Harry Warholak, Sr. and Bortz to purchase the cars. In the process, Bortz became the owner of the largest privately held collection of dream cars. Joe initially began some restoration of one of the cars, the 1955 Chevrolet Biscayne, but the process was interrupted for a time leaving it in essentially cosmetically unrestored condition. It was later shown in this condition at Pebble Beach, (a unique occurrence of showing an unrestored car there). Finally in the latter part of the 1990s, the Biscayne was fully restored. This effort was followed by the restoration of the LaSalle II Roadster, a compact sports car design considered as the design for the 1957 Corvette. The LaSalle II Sedan was also a compact car. Both LaSalle IIs featured a DOHC V-6.

These two historic dream cars as well as the 1953 Pontiac Parisienne, 1953 Buick Wildcat I, 1954 Pontiac Bonneville Special, and the unrestored 1955 LaSalle II Sedan are to be on display at the renowned Petersen Museum in Los Angeles for two years beginning in April 2024.

1953 Pontiac Parisienne

 

The LaSalle II Sedan will be displayed at the Petersen Museum in virtually junk yard fresh condition (with the exceptions being some clean-up and the installation of a new windshield). This is the first time a junk yard fresh car has been on display at this museum.

Both LaSalles will show what almost happened in the mid-1950s – a revolutionary V-6 engine that was approved for 1955 production and then abandoned virtually at the last moment for concerns that too much “new” was being introduced that year. For whatever reasons, that V-6 was not made available in the years following. Had GM done so, this action would have put them far ahead of the pack when gasoline became expensive in late-1973 and beyond and at a time when the federal government began issuing demands for improved miles-per-gallon. One can only speculate at what might have been.

This exhibition titled, GM’s Marvelous Motorama: Dream Cars From the Joe Bortz Collection, will be the largest gathering of GM’s dream cars since the days of the glamorous GM Motorama. Visitors will get a trip back in time and will be able to see how the future was seen from the standpoint of the 1950s and the time when General Motors led the way in all things automotive. The exhibit begins in the spring of 2024 and continues for two years.

1985 Buick Wildcat

A Unique Blend of Art and Engineering

For 1985, Buick revived the name Wildcat for its sleek V-6 powered concept car. The label, Wildcat, was a familiar one to Buick enthusiasts; it appeared on three GM dream cars of the 1950s and from 1962-1970 was the name of the division’s sporty full-sized car. This rendition of the Wildcat was highly advanced – both in terms of its mechanical systems and aerodynamic styling – when it was first introduced. The 1985 Wildcat’s styling retains a futuristic look even 32 years after its debut.

Chuck Jordan

In 1982, the fourth Wildcat concept vehicle project was assigned to GM Design Staff with the direction of creating a car with specific mechanical appeal to emphasize Buick’s reputation for high-tech powertrains. A design that displayed its “mechanical guts” the way a motorcycle presents its engine for all to see and appreciate was a key goal. The director of design then at GM Design Staff, Chuck Jordan, described the Wildcat as a unique blend of art and engineering, of flowing sculptured surfaces punctuated by exposed mechanical elements. Jordan was quoted in a December 1985 Motor Trend article detailing the Wildcat as saying, “This was one of the best and toughest style jobs I’ve ever been on. It was a concept that Buick brought to us – to highlight a new high-technology engine with some of the mechanical appeal that a fine motorcycle has. We said, ‘That’s neat. We really ought to do that.’” What finally emerged from the drawing boards was spectacular and left a remarkable first impression on management types. As Jordan explained, “Whenever we can get [the executives] to come in and think it’s going the wrong way, think the front is where the back is, then we know we’ve succeeded.”

The result of three years work that left executives initially confused about where the front and back ends of the car were really located was a mid-engine car powered with a 230hp, 24-valve V-6 displacing 231 cubic inches (3.8 liters); it sat exposed behind the passenger compartment – a work of art and a precision mechanical device for all to see and appreciate. William L. Porter, who served as the chief designer of Buick Design Studio Number 1 at the time said, “Usually, our designs have minimized the mechanical elements. This notion of featuring mechanical components as part of the exterior design was a fresh idea, a dynamite idea for a concept car!”

The profile of the 1985 Wildcat was unique for the time with its long rear deck, short nose, and tinted clear bubble-like roof. “In designing the Wildcat, we were after a new design direction – a milestone car”, said Jordan. He pointed out that “there is no break in the line where the transparent part of the canopy meets the carbon fiber body.” The transparent canopy was not a new idea; it would have been called a bubbletop in the 1950s and 1960s, but this version looked futuristic rather than anachronistic. Technical breakthroughs in joining the transparent surfaces with the body were necessary to successfully achieve the desired look.

Just like the 1938 Buick Y-Job created by GM’s first styling chief, Harley Earl, nearly a half-century earlier, the Wildcat represented a laboratory on wheels. This concept car was a showcase of engineering innovation, including the high-tech V-6 engine with dual overhead camshafts (DOHC), field-programmable sequential-port fuel injection (SFI), and a performance version of Buick’s computer controlled coil ignition. Bore and stroke measured 3.8x 3.4 inches and peak horsepower was reached at 6,000rpm. Torque was rated at 245 ft.-lb. at 4,000rpm. Precise adjustments of the rate of fuel flow from inside the car were made possible with the SFI setup. The induction system incorporated runners for power and response while the Computer Controlled Coil Ignition (C3I) used an electronic control module in place of a standard distributor and ignition coil. Precise ignition spark was provided by the C3I system by taking into account variable factors such as engine speed, spark advance, air flow, coolant temperature, and detonation. This setup was calibrated to function at up to 13,000rpm though redline was initially set at 6,000rpm. According to Joseph M. Negri, who was manager of Buick Special Products at the time, the Wildcat’s engine was “the logical extension of our work” because the division had a strong reputation on the highways and race tracks (such as Indy) for technical leadership in V-6 engines.

Furthermore, the advanced vehicle featured full-time four-wheel drive, four-wheel disc brakes, independent suspension, anti-lock braking system, and a cockpit full of electronic instrumentation. The primary instruments – the tachometer, oil pressure, battery, fuel level, and coolant temperature – were placed in the stationary hub of the steering wheel. A cathode ray tube (CRT) displayed information on G-forces during a turn, horsepower and torque, spark function, percent of tire slippage, low air pressure warning for each tire, and oil pressure. At the time, CRT systems required a relatively lengthy warm-up period, so the Wildcat’s CRT filaments began the process as soon as the driver touched the door release. By 1990, a CRT touch screen was offered in the new Oldsmobile Trofeo.

The Wildcat lacked conventional doors, but rather the solenoid-actuated canopy pivoted at the front end of the car. The metallic gray interior was the work of several designers including Brian Baker, Nelly Toledo, and Corwin Hanson. In a phone interview with the author many years ago, Chuck Jordan said of the Wildcat’s systems that, “Buick was big on electronics. This is illustrated by the dash, steering wheel, and heads-up display. We pulled out every trick we could, but knew some would fall by the wayside.” Even so, “It was exciting because it wasn’t a typical Buick,” he added.

The fourth Buick show car to wear the Wildcat name did not greatly influence the look of the division’s forthcoming production cars, but served as a showcase for its high-tech V-6 engine which became the basis of the high-performance Buick Grand National and Turbo Regal of the 1980s. As Chuck Jordan explained its purpose, “It showed Buick had some ‘spark!’” The venerable 3.8 liter V-6, with its beginnings in the early 1960s, remained in production though 2008, though with only two valves per cylinder for the duration.

1938 Buick Y-Job - Modern Concept Car

1938 Buick Y-Job - Modern Concept Car

By David W. Temple

There was a time when any new car was an experimental or concept car such as Henry Ford’s Quadricycle and Ransom E. Olds earliest Oldsmobile in which the powertrain, starting system, steering, and suspension needed to be evaluated. However, as cars became more advanced and more common any new design was less experimental, having perhaps an engine with new manufacturing methods tested in a car with otherwise proven technology. Then along came Harley Earl who reinvented the concept car in the late 1930s, though it was simply labeled “experimental” at the time. The concept car often exhibits multiple advanced ideas and to be truly accurate the term should probably be “concepts car.”

Harley Earl’s Buick Y-Job was a radical car for its time, though not so radical as to be unappealing to the public. It is generally recognized as the first modern concept car due to the multiple advanced ideas incorporated into its overall design. In the case of the Y-Job it was built with advanced styling and advanced mechanical features, though under its hood was simply an improved version of Buick’s “Dynaflash” straight-eight which had been in use since 1931.

Harley Earl had the backing of Alfred P. Sloan, Jr. Earl had proven himself as a director of styling, so whatever Earl wanted he typically got. Earl also found Harlow Curtice one of the more receptive people to his ideas. Curtice became the head of the Buick Division in 1933; four years later Earl went to Curtice with a proposal for a very different kind of car – the one which became the Y-Job, and one which Earl described as a “semi-sports car.” The unique name’s origin was explained by Vince Kaptur, Sr., who was quoted in an article written by Karl Ludvigsen for the March 1974 issue of Motor Trend : “We were always working with X-cars, for experimental, and this job was one step beyond that [emphasis author’s]. We just called it the Y-Job.”

Kaptur was in charge of the car’s body engineering. Charles Chayne became the chief engineer for Buick in 1936 and his skills were put to use on the Y-Job’s mechanical systems. As for the styling of the car, Earl put George Snyder in charge of a team which included Joe Shemansky. Up to that point Snyder headed the Oldsmobile studio. He had an instinctive sense of what Earl wanted, so Snyder was moved over to another studio to focus on advanced design. According to an article by Michael Lamm published in the January/February 1997 issue of Special Interest Autos, “Art Moderne, the commercial art form that auto designers borrowed from architecture, was very much in vogue at the time. Snyder incorporated the parallelism, repeated lines and horizontality of Art Moderne in the Y-Job.”

The purpose of the Y-Job was essentially two-fold – it was a test of the acceptance of new styling ideas and to serve as Harley Earl’s personal car. However, the car’s styling led to some engineering issues which had to be worked through. The special car also got to be a test bed for Buick’s prototype Dynaflow torque converter transmission which became an option starting with the 1948 model year. In an article about experimental cars Earl referred to the Y-Job as “a composite of many ideas” and went on to illustrate their advanced nature by stating they were “ideas which for sound and logical reasons couldn’t be duplicated in volume in 1938.”

Another purpose was also served by the Y-Job – it gave Harley Earl the status he should have as the chief designer for GM. Earl was competitive, so when his contemporaries – Ed Macauley for Packard and Edsel Ford of Ford Motor Company – were out and about in their personal boat-tail speedsters, Earl had to “make do” with a production car, though modified to fit his wants. Earl, Macauley, and Edsel Ford lived near each other in Grosse Pointe, so Earl frequently saw them driving by in their special cars.

According to an article published in the May 2009 issue of the Cadillac & LaSalle Club’s publication, The Self-Starter, inspiration for the styling of the Y-Job came as the result of Harley Earl visiting his old stomping grounds at Don Lee’s distributorship in 1936. There he saw a 1934 LaSalle modified with a custom boattail speedster body it received after the car was totaled in an accident. Also there was a similarly styled car built on a 1936 Ford chassis by Frank Kurtis. Afterwards, Earl became quite fascinated with the boattail design.

The styling of the Y-Job was spectacular. Allegedly, it impressed Edsel Ford so much he offered Earl a chance to come to work for Ford Motor Company. Earl was soon appointed as Vice President in charge of Styling. Whether the two events are truly connected probably cannot be proven.

To continue reading about the Buick Y-Job purchase a copy of "The Cars of Harley Earl." Click this link or the one at top right to order through Amazon. https://www.cartechbooks.com/cars-of-harley-earl-limited-signed-edition.html

1956 Corvette Impala

Five-passenger Luxury Sport

By David W. Temple

A Corvette-like dream car graced a turntable at the five venues of the 1956 GM

Motorama. It was the Corvette Impala, an automobile styled to give a little sports car “flavoring” to a five-passenger luxury car. The dream car’s toothy grille and rounded quarters revealed its styling was influenced by the newly restyled first generation Corvette. A special brochure about the Corvette Impala stated the car “incorporates wholly new considerations in fine passenger car design from the standpoint of sleekness, safety, and luxury.”

Named for the agile African antelope, the fiberglass experimental car designed by Bob Cadaret and Carl Renner had a 225hp Super Turbo-Fire V-8 engine coupled to a two-speed Powerglide. The V-8 was modified with a 9.25:1 compression ratio and a high-lift camshaft. Spent exhaust exited through a dual set of pipes passing through the driveshaft tunnel and into a transverse mounted muffler with dual outlets projecting through the lower rear body panel.

Styling of the Corvette Impala foretold that of the Chevrolet Impala which debuted for the 1958 model year. In fact, at one point the toothy grille was proposed for use on the new model, but was abandoned due to cost considerations. Even so, the integral bumper and grille theme was kept. Other styling features of the Corvette Impala included a tinted “Panoramic” wraparound windshield curving up into the pale blue-tinted brushed stainless steel roof, a wraparound rear windshield, beltline dip near the reverse slant C-pillars, and chrome-plated wire wheels with knock-off hubs. All of these – with the exceptions of the wire wheels and the brushed stainless steel roof – were adopted for the production car. Its nose emblem was very close to the production type used for the 1958-60 Corvettes, but with the name “Corvette Impala” embossed circumferentially around the crossed flags.

A unique, air-foil shaped, padded cornering bar (or strut) emerged from the steering column, angled upward before transitioning into a horizontal component extending across the entire width of the interior.

To learn more about the 1956 Corvette Impala and other cars related to the GM Motorama get a copy of my new book, “Motorama: GM’s Legendary Show & Concept Cars.” Just click the book cover image at far right or click the link here: http://www.amazon.com/Motorama-Legendary-Show-Concept-Cartech/dp/1613251599/ref=pd_rhf_gw_p_img_1

See my GM's Motorama page on Facebook... https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-General-Motors-Motorama-Page/322177371232507?ref=bookmarks

The LeSabre's styling was revised for 1953

1951 General Motors LeSabre: A Laboratory on Wheels

Full-size clay model of the 1951 GM LeSabre

     One of the earliest concept cars ever built was the 1951 GM LeSabre. (Note it was not a Buick but rather the General Motors LeSabre). Harley Earl, the first person ever appointed as vice president in charge of styling, headed the design of what was originally dubbed simply the XP-8. Within the GM Styling department a team was handpicked by Earl to handle the car's advanced styling. Engineering its mechanical systems was an even more ambitious matter.

     The structural aspects of the LeSabre were as radically different as the styling. Most of the body panels were of light-weight cast magnesium. Magnesium was being used in aviation applications like the first intercontinental range bomber, the massive Convair B-36; its use in an automotive application certainly added a flavor of the exotic to what was an astonishing car for the time. The front fender valence, cowl, door lock pillars, and deck lid were single large castings of magnesium. The remaining panels were of sheet aluminum. Ribs were cast into the deck lid to add strength to this large piece. Casting these members in magnesium was a difficult achievement; multiple attempts were required to get the correct shape for these components in order to get adjoining panels to align perfectly. When a panel was flawed, the magnesium was melted and recast again – even multiple times when needed. The floors were aluminum honeycomb sandwiched between aluminum sheets. Magnesium and extensive labor were partly responsible for the staggering price tag for this one-of-a-kind car which amounted to approximately $500 thousand or even as much as $1 million (which is today roughly the equivalent of $5 million and $10 million.)

LeSabre's supercharged, all-aluminum V-8

The complex body with stiff sills and driveshaft tunnel was set upon a ladder-type frame made of chrome-moly steel; wheelbase measured 115 inches. The parallel wishbone front suspension was atypical, too. Its A-arms were cast alloy with the upper A-arm pivot rod being imbedded in a solid piece of cylindrically shaped rubber which itself was encased in a steel casting. Hydraulic tubular shock absorbers were attached to the steel casings and the lower A-arms. With the rubber in torsion, it acted as an effective springing medium – at least for a while. Eventually, the rubber began to lose its elasticity resulting in Chayne replacing the setup with torsion bars. The rear of the chassis received a transaxle comprised of a modified Buick Dynaflow with a DeDion differential attached to it. (Some years later a four-speed Hydra-Matic replaced the Dynaflow.) The DeDion setup is a type of semi-independent suspension with a drop-center beam axle connecting the two driving wheels aft of the open, double-jointed drive shafts; it is separate from the final drive unit which is attached to the frame. A transaxle combines the final drive unit with the transmission which is located between the driving wheels; it separates the transmission from the engine, thus moving a significant portion of the weight towards the rear to provide improved weight distribution in rear-wheel drive cars. The rear-mounted torque converter was driven at engine speed which made possible the installation of a generator and hydraulic pump in the rear of the chassis. Each was driven by the input shaft of the transaxle. The hydraulic pump operated four built-in jacks (one at each corner) to raise the car when needed (i.e., changing a flat tire). The double-jointed axle shafts were made of magnesium and the rear suspension was a tapered single leaf spring mounted transversely. Thirteen-inch wheels helped make the car low, but to get adequate braking, 3 ½-inch wide, 9-inch diameter finned brake drums with four brake shoes per drum were used. The overall height with the top up measured just 50 inches; the cowl height as measured from the ground peaked at a mere 36.25 inches.

The engine was yet another amazing piece of engineering for the day. It was an experimental V8 with aluminum block and heads displacing 215 cubic inches – a volume obtained with a square bore and stroke (3.25 x3.25 inches). The block extended below the crankshaft centerline; its main caps were cross-bolted. Wet cylinder liners were centrifugally cast of Ni-Resist iron. Problematic at first was the intake manifold design. Before the actual engine was constructed, a mockup was made and sent to GM Styling. Joseph Turlay, who was in charge of engineering the special V8, was told by Harley Earl to make the engine at least six inches lower. Turley’s initial thought was that his boss’s order was impossible to accomplish. However, with some ingenuity he did it. He reduced the height of the oil pan and added a windage tray to keep the crank throws from aerating the oil. The flywheel size was reduced without sacrificing the mass required by substituting bronze in place of iron; this alone reduced engine height by 1 ½ inches. A Roots-type supercharger was neatly packaged just above the intake manifold which served as the valley cover. The chain driven camshaft was suspended from the bottom of the intake. Combustion chambers were hemispherical with the intake and sodium-filled exhaust valves mounted at a 90-degree angle to each other. The intake rocker arms were mounted transversely on the engine, while the exhaust rockers pointed fore and aft. This unusual arrangement allowed for a more compact engine to fit within the limited space of the engine compartment. Valve seats were stainless steel inserts.

There were even more mechanical marvels to the LeSabre. The oval grille in front as stated earlier is not really a grille, but rather a door which hides and supports close-set headlights. When the headlight switch was set to “on” the door moved inward, rotated 180 degrees, and then moved outward with both headlights aglow.

Rare color catalog detailing the interior of the LeSabre

Instrumentation for the LeSabre was extensive and its upholstery was of leather.... For more on the LeSabre purchase a copy of the author's book, "Motorama: GM's Legendary Show & Concept Cars," available for pre-orders at Amazon.com (release date is January 15, 2015). Motorama: GM's Legendary Show & Concept Cars

1954 Cutlass

A Radically Different Oldsmobile

     The 1954 Oldsmobile Cutlass made its public debut at the opening venue of the GM Motorama, the Waldorf-Astoria, in January 1954. While being designed at GM Styling under Art Ross, the car was known simply as the "long wheelbase F-88" and it shared some common features of the other Olds dream car, the F-88. Both were two-passenger cars with a similar instrument panel and powered by a modified 324 "Rocket" V-8 producing 250 horsepower. Wheels and some suspension components were also alike. However, as the name "long wheelbase F-88" implied, the Cutlass was a longer car. It was also a closed car with an unusual roof design ending in a tapering fastback with a louvered rear window. Up front was a divided oval-shaped bumper/grille combination with a set of driving lamps. The fiberglass body of the Cutlass was painted iridescent copper metallic, a special color developed for this dream car.
     Inside the Cutlass was a set of bucket-styled seats covered in pigskin; the seats swiveled to help ease entry and egress for the driver and passenger. There was no trunk lid, but access to the trunk was through a pass-through in the bulkhead behind the seats.
     Unlike some of GM's dream cars of this era, the Cutlass was made operable, and in fact, had a Michigan license plate attached.

     What became of the Cutlass after its days as a show car came to an end is not known, though there was a claim made many years ago it was actually sold to someone in the northeast. If true, where is the unique car today?

For more on the LeSabre purchase a copy of the author's book, "Motorama: GM's Legendary Show & Concept Cars," available at Amazon.com. Click the book cover pictured at right to go directly there.

1955 LaSalle II Show Cars

Two Showcases for the V-6 Experiment

Text by David W. Temple

Photos from author's files

A particularly unusual part of the history of the GM Motorama show cars can be found in a pair dubbed LaSalle II. Named after Cadillac’s companion marque, last produced in 1940, these cars were created at the time V8s were extremely popular with the motoring public. Increasingly greater horsepower was being achieved with growing cubic inches, higher compression ratios, multiple carburetion, etc., and this did not seem to be the time to test public reaction to a V6 engine, but that is exactly what happened with the LaSalle II project.

The pair of fiberglass LaSalle IIs show cars were not divisional specific. One was a six-passenger, four-door pillarless hardtop (XP-32, Shop Order 2217) and the other a diminutive two-passenger roadster (XP-34, Shop Order 2220). The pair was named after the first car Harley Earl designed for GM – the 1927 LaSalle. The four-door (with the rear doors being the suicide type) had a wheelbase of 108 inches and an overall length of 180.2 inches – just about the same length as some alternative sports cars of the day like the Muntz. A more modern comparison is a mid-sixties Falcon. The roadster was even smaller with a wheelbase of only 99.9 inches and an overall length of 151.7 inches. Ground clearance for both cars measured 5.1 inches. In an era when longer, lower, wider ruled the shape of the automobile, the LaSalle IIs flew in the face of established principles, though they were certainly low. The hardtop stood 69.5 inches high, while its companion roadster peaked at a mere 42.8 inches. Each fiberglass body sat on a custom-built steel frame with an independent suspension utilizing torsion bars in front. The windshield for the LaSalle II sedan was an “astra-dome” type much like that of the Biscayne. Its exhaust pipes, mufflers, and ports were housed in the rocker sills on the roadster, while the exhaust exited through a port in each lower quarter panel for the sedan.

Frontal styling for both LaSalle IIs had vertical grille openings based on the canceled 1941 LaSalle. The side coves of the pearlescent white cars were painted a contrasting blue (Bahama Blue on the roadster and LeSabre Blue on the Sedan) thus dominating the profile view of each car; they foretold the look of the Corvette for the following year. Carl Renner performed much of the design work on these cars and also worked on the restyled Corvette for 1956. He even went so far as to propose a 1957 Corvette based chiefly on the LaSalle II roadster’s styling, but that is as close as this show car got to production.

As already stated, the LaSalle IIs featured V6 engines, although the ones in the actual Dream Cars were aluminum castings without internal components. Even though these particular V6 prototypes were nonfunctional, GM had a V6 research program in the works over the preceding seven years. The incomplete engines mounted within the LaSalle IIs represented aluminum (heads and block), fuel-injected, double-overhead (DOHC) cam, power plants that would produce 150 horsepower. Today such engines are commonplace, but in 1955 they were quite radical. If they had gone into production, the history of the American automobile might have been very different – at least that is the opinion of Joe Bortz as quoted in an article by Charles D. Barnette for the Cadillac & LaSalle Club’s The Self Starter publication. Bortz, who owns both LaSalle IIs said, “To me these cars are the turning point in American history. At this time in 1955, long before the European automotive invasion into the American market, General Motors had already thought of and physically produced these two cars which had aluminum block V6, fuel-injection, double-overhead cam engines with independent rear suspension. As you know, during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, these were the ideas that were brought forward from Europe, and eventually Japan, that set the American automotive market on its ear. As I always say, this was the turning point in American automotive history, where if they [GM] would have stepped up on their ideas with these two LaSalle automobiles, American automotive fortunes would have been greatly changed.”

An additional feature of both cars was 13-inch turbine-style wheels with brake drums cast into their center sections. The wheel was bolted rigidly much further away from the center than a typical arrangement; tire removal meant lifting off only an assembly of the tire and rim, thus leaving the brake setup undisturbed. The bimetal brake drums bolted to the wheel hub to form a brake chamber that inhibited the entrance of moisture and dirt. These drums required only seconds to remove.

The LaSalle IIs were uncannily predictive of the future – a trait most Motorama experimental cars have in common. (Such prognostication was the result of advanced thinking within GM Styling, rather than through gifted insight into what would be in demand in the distant future.) The compact car would emerge in the 1960s and Buick would offer a V6 starting in 1962, an engine that would become very important to Buick in the 1980s.

In 1989, both LaSalle II show cars were recovered by Joe Bortz from Warhoops Auto & Truck Salvage near the GM Tech Center in Sterling Heights, Michigan. The roadster had been cut apart much like the 1955 Chevrolet Biscayne, also found at Warhoops. Fortunately, the sedan had not been butchered.

The LaSalle II roadster has the rare distinction of being one of very few work-in-progress cars to be invited to the Pebble Beach Concours D'Elegance. It was shown there along with other surviving dream cars of GM in 2008.

In 2010, Joe Bortz began the final phases of the restoration of the LaSalle II roadster. Part of that process was the design and installation of an electric motor to make the unique car mobile for the first time. A series of videos posted on Youtube.com were produced showing the progress of the project. Part one of the series can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnE0-ZVX4Ho&feature=relmfu Links to the remaining portions can be found at the website.

Currently, the LaSalle II sedan is undergoing restoration and will have a similar electric motor installed.

1952 Cadillac Custom Convertible

A Gift from Harley Earl

Text by David W. Temple

Photos from author's collection

The first four years which followed the end of World War II were important ones for Cadillac. In 1947, they outsold Packard for the first time since 1934 (and continued to do so from that point onward), the 1948 models began a styling fad that would last throughout the decade of the ‘50s and into the early ‘60s, and then with the ‘49s came Cadillac’s advanced overhead valve (ohv) V8; it arrived just in time for the start of the post-war horsepower race. Such credentials helped solidify Cadillac’s image of being the “standard of the world” as they had long claimed to be.

The tail-finned Cadillac began to take shape during 1939. During this time Harley Earl and his team received an invitation to Selfridge Air Force Base to view one of the newest and most advanced fighter planes of the day, the P-38 Lightning. General Motors’ connection to the P-38 was their Allison Division which built the engines for the Lockheed-designed plane, a twin-boom fighter aircraft that later proved its worth in the skies over Germany, Burma, and the South Pacific during the second world war. Beyond its importance to the Allied war effort, the plane has the distinction of being the inspiration for the tail fin craze that consumed the Detroit auto industry and car buyers for many years.

There was more to styling the ‘48s than simply putting fins on the car. The Lightning also inspired the pontoon-like fenders and bullet shaped bumper guards as well as the wraparound windshield that appeared in following years. There was a problem to overcome in following through with the ideas that the fighter plane spawned, too. When executives received their first glance at what styling was doing, they were not exactly exuberant about the proposal, thus Earl ordered the styling department to delete the fins. Harley Earl was an intimidating person and when he said do this or that it got done – usually. The stylist in charge of the Cadillac design studio, Franklin Hershey, simply concealed the fins on the clay model with a cloth. Within a short time span, however, the idea of tailfins on Cadillacs began to appeal to management. Harley Earl went back to the studio and happily learned the fins had not been taken off the clay model.

As radically different as the 1948 and 1949 Cadillacs were, they were not as radical as they could have been. Other ideas for the new ‘48s included hidden headlights, skirted front fenders, and a very aerodynamic shape. These concepts were rejected because Harley Earl knew it was unwise to leap too far ahead of the styling practices of the day. In fact, he was quoted as saying, “A fundamental we have learned ... is not to step too far at a time, but every now and then we take a risk.” Dealers reacted the same way management did upon their introduction to the finned Cadillacs, but the general public was wild about the idea. Output for the next year’s model would nearly double the results of ‘48.

Bringing great excitement for the ‘49 model year was a replacement for the old L-head eight cylinder with the ohv V8. The new power plant displaced 331 cubic inches and provided significantly greater performance and fuel economy. With the upper limits of its capability being reached, the engineering department recognized that the L-head was due for replacement. A program was initiated during the latter part of 1941, but the war interfered with the project soon thereafter. Compression ratios were on the rise due to the availability of higher octane gasoline (up to a rating of 88 by 1948). Furthermore, still higher ratings (up to a range of 12:1 to 13:1) were being planned, thus the modern Caddy engine was designed with this in mind. The engineers apparently did their work correctly because the engine continued in its basic form through 1963. The only other street car that could measure up to Cadillac in terms of performance at that time was Oldsmobile which had their own ohv V8 displacing 307 cubic inches.

Harley Earl, the VP of GM Styling and his team of stylists made the cars of GM look exciting and thus desirable. In particular, a Cadillac was something to aspire to because in the eyes of many it made a statement like no other automobile could. It said of its owner, “I have arrived at the top.” However, there were a few Cadillacs that made that statement a little more boldly. A limousine, the two-door hardtop Coupe de Ville, and a convertible said so a bit more clearly. There was one more way that surpassed these – a customized Cadillac specially ordered by Harley Earl.

Gary Cooper and Sammy Chapin sitting in the '52 Custom Convertible

Harold R. Boyer was no ordinary person. He received an engineering degree from MIT – no small accomplishment in itself – and helped in the effort to convert American factories from civilian to war production in order to combat Nazi Germany and the Japanese Empire. During the Korean Conflict, Boyer was in charge of the Cleveland plant that produced Cadillac engines for tanks. Much of his work was classified. Boyer knew the powerful like General Curtis LeMay (the man who masterminded the bombing operations over Japan in the latter part of World War II and who later became the commander of the U.S. Air Force Strategic Air Command) and he was also friends with Harley Earl. Through his association with Earl, Boyer also became acquainted with the famous like movie star, Author Godfrey.

Earl and Boyer met when the latter was with the Oakland Motor Division of GM. Eventually, Boyer was loaned by GM to the Department of Defense. His career brought him back to serve at GM until his retirement in 1964; his last major duty for the company was to coordinate the pavilion for GM at that year’s World’s Fair in New York City. Boyer served on the board of directors of various companies including that of Lear Jet, was a pilot, and owned & flew a Beechcraft Bonanza.

One day while Boyer was assigned to managing Cadillac’s Cleveland Tank Plant, he had a conversation with Harley Earl regarding automobiles. Mr. Boyer mentioned his dream car would be part Cadillac and part sports car. Evidently, Earl became intrigued with the concept of a Cadillac sports car and began having one designed with Boyer’s input. A regular production 1951Series 62 convertible was sent to GM Styling to be redesigned into the car shown here. Originally the special Caddy was painted black and had standard issue wheel covers. The body was shortened 10 inches and lowered six inches in overall height to achieve the sports car look. Grille extensions, turn signals, headlight rings, and the hood emblem were updated to 1952-model year components. The instrument panel was modified to include manifold and oil temperature gauges, as well as a tachometer and an aircraft-type clock. A newspaper article about the unique car which appeared in the Cleveland Plain Dealer stated the custom Cadillac was equipped with a 230 horsepower, dual-carb engine and that it was capable of 130mph. If the report was correct, then the engine, as originally configured, was essentially the same as the one which powered the 1953-54 Eldorado (though these models lacked dual carbs). According to the article, GM was “so impressed by the vehicle” that they were considering placing it into production. One must wonder if this creation was the inspiration for the sporty dream car, the 1953 Cadillac Le Mans of which only four were built. Reportedly, it, too, was considered for production; dealers who were quarried about it believed a market existed for about 5,000 of them. However, production was not forthcoming.

At Boyer’s request, the special Cadillac was upgraded and in 1955, the car got a new engine. The sporty wire wheels may have been installed at that time as well. A four-barrel carburetor replaced the dual-quad setup. At some point, the car’s color scheme was changed, too. This is the way the car remains today.

Harold Boyer’s granddaughter purchased the car upon his death in 1987, and she preserved it until selling it several years ago at an auction. The Custom Convertible now belongs to a Palo Alto, California resident who showed the car at the 2011 Pebble Beach Concours D’Elegance.

In the opinion of many at that time, the 1950s Cadillacs represented the pinnacle of luxury, and sales of the make reflected this belief. However, the ultimate luxury cruiser of the time had to be a Harley Earl-designed Cadillac – something very few people could own.

To view photos of the car on display at Pebble Beach, click here: http://forums.aaca.org/f169/pebble-beach-1952-cadillac-custom-body-310368.html 

Additional photos can be seen here: http://cadillacdatabase.org/Dbas_txt/Drm52-53.htm